Ultraviolet (2006) User Reviews

Hot body, not much else going on

[Lithigin · 3/10 · 3 March 2006]

Ultraviolet was embarrassingly terrible on so many levels. My husband and I usually really dig the comic book and action movies, so I think that our expectations were reasonable for the genre. The kinds of movies that Ultraviolet tried to channel were X-Men, The Matrix and Underworld. Unfortunately, this movie failed to do so.

1) Dialogue was laughably bad. One of Milla's lines was actually "Because these beautiful moments turn evil when they're over." What?? This was regarding a romantic pass made at her. Totally incongruous with the setting. 2) Excessive use of CGI is a personal irritant. Additionally, the motorcycle chase scenes were only one step above TRON. I might as well have been watching my 11 year old neighbors play some video game. 3) Zero character development. I didn't care about Violet, the french guy, the scientist guy, the pretty boy, or the evil nose filter guy. I didn't care about their individual goals (mainly because they weren't very clear). I didn't care about characters dying, and I didn't care about the revelation at the end; the only indicator that I had that it was important was her somewhat awed reaction.

To be fair, Milla Jovovich has an incredible face and body and is well-suited for fight scenes. If all-CGI, all-the-time is your thing, then you'll be thrilled with the loads of glossed-over fight scenes involving Milla and hordes of green screen baddies. If you're like our entire theater, you're bored. Really, fake fights just don't impress me.

Definitely not Equilibrium

[ultraelite · 3/10 · 5 March 2006]

Kurt Wimmer who wrote and directed Equilibrium, which imho is a great movie, failed miserably to repeat his former success. The idea's behind the movie had visible potential but unfortunately the execution was extremely poor. Bad acting, a confusing and altogether nonsensical story line, and most of all bad writing really killed this one for me. This movie seemed more like a commercial for CGI than anything else. The CGI however was excellent (except for the last scene, I guess they ran out of money)and probably the most interesting part of the movie. The action which is why I saw the movie suffered from repetition: from the characters, to the setups (Violet is being attacked when she is out-numbered), to the moves, unnecessary sword fighting when they have guns with bullets, unnecessarily repetitive situations (big circle everyone attacks at once and violet wins with ease no challenging battle), and a lack of depth. Kurt really missed the mark, better luck next time.

Errrrr.... What?

[machintim · 3/10 · 3 April 2006]

It is a little difficult to imagine why this film was released in its current form. It has some potential, the action sequences look a little mundane as we have seen it all before but they are quick and effective. The story is quirky enough to be interesting and some of the backdrops look good.

The problem is, Ultraviolet neither makes sense nor holds together as a film. Huge chunks of action and story seem to have been lost on the cutting room floor. The film is left overloaded with the expensive bits that had already been paid for. Lots of sweeping city-scapes and shots of Mila walking down corridors don't make a film.

It reminds me of other Japanese live action Manga smash-ups (See Kasshern etc). The problem is that Japanese films have every right not to make sense and be completely over the top, as it is what they do best. Unfortunately, due to a westernised need for slight reality, Hollywood have attempted same thing and ended up with a cheap looking film with a poor script stuck together with a bunch of crap one liners.

Depends on your taste

[cybereaper · 5/10 · 11 March 2006]

Personally, I love Milla. Even in this, she's still Milla. She's hot, she's fit and she handles the 'tough' role well. I hold the director responsible for bringing it all together. Personally, I didn't 'dislike' this movie. It reminds me of Doom. With the right budget, the right director and time, it could have been the best film of the year. Otherwise, it will leave you feeling like something's been left out. What I liked was the fact I went for a cheesy, mass-action, campy, comic-book/video game movie. I expected fighting, explosions, gratuitous scenes with some nudity and a minimal plot. No, this isn't plot intensive like Silent Hill. (Again, an underlying feature that could have been better handled). So, if you're like me, and you enjoy seeing Milla do her thang, faceless soldiers being under mass slaughter and needless, gratuitous violence, then this is the film for you. Of course, I look for this type of movie only once per year. Just as a break from everything else. The quota has been filled!

Worst movie I've seen in years!

[stokley420 · 1/10 · 3 March 2006]

This movie is absolutely horrible. The magnitude of its suck is unbelievable. The characters in the movie are very poorly developed so when you are quickly put into a silent emotional scene, you're left unaffected. The movie takes place in the future so they add in all kinda of high-tech gadgets that are so stupidly unrealistic it makes you laugh. They try to incorporate unbelievable advanced technology with a more modern day looking setting so the two aspects clash. They can make weapons materialize in their hands but their form of infection control is still rubber gloves. The plot itself is kind of hard to follow and doesn't seem to make any sense at times. How vampires fit into the movie, i have no idea.I signed up to IMDb for the sole purpose of warning anyone who wants to see this movie. This movie was horrible and do not waste a dime on this movie. The only delight i got from this movie is watching the fine Milia Jovovich dance around in skin tight outfits. I cannot stress how awful this movie is. Don't waste your time or money on this film!

Like a German techno video with badly translated Japanese one-liners for dialogue... only less coherent.

[Steph-3 · 1/10 · 5 March 2006]

I had hopes for this movie based on the trailer, but it turned out to be one of the worst I've ever seen.

The special effects range from mediocre to kinda cool, but the plot is too sketchy and absurd to justify their existence. Milla Jovovich's hair and jacket change colors for no discernible reason throughout the film. I think the pretty colors are supposed to distract us from the incoherent script, but it doesn't work. The Sky Captain-style post-processing just makes everything look blurry. (And why is it applied to only half the shots?) Just about everything in this movie is borrowed from something else, and it's slapped together on the thinnest of premises and tarted up with lots of CGI. When there's a break from the ridiculously-choreographed action sequences, the audience is bludgeoned with nonsensical subplots and indescribably awful dialogue. By the time the heroine met the villain in their final showdown, the audience in my theater was laughing out loud.

If you appreciate Milla Jovovich's body, it might be possible to enjoy this film by renting the DVD and watching it with the sound off and your techno MP3 collection blaring in the background while you do something productive, like picking the gunk out from beneath your toenails. Or you could spare yourself the pain and just get The Fifth Element instead.

Not as bad as some would have you believe but certainly no earthly good either

[bob the moo · 4 September 2007]

In the future research into a rare blood anomaly has gotten out of control, making it more infectious and deadly than nature ever did. It spreads. The world become split between the uninfected humans and those infected who have developed the traits of the vampires of old. Known as Hemophages, they fight back in a war led by Daxus as head of the new totalitarian world. In the middle of this war is Violet, a Hemophage whose infection lost her child. Violet steals a secret weapon from Daxus to return to her people. However when the weapon turns out to be a human child with a mutation in his blood Violet hesitates. She goes on the run with the child but both sides seem determined to kill her and her ward.

This film got roundly harsh reviews when it came out in cinemas and it maintains an equally low rating on IMDb but, arrogant as I am, I thought it might be a piece of mindless fun. Well, I'm sad to say that my hope proved to have no founding in reality. It isn't that the film is really bad, because it isn't. It is more than it doesn't really follow through on anything or do anything that well and the result is a rather messy and inconsequential film that I really struggled to feel anything strong about whatsoever – not a sense of fun, excitement, interesting or even hate.

The plot is the first obstacle to get over as it exists in a world that, as Violet first says, is hard to understand. On the surface it is a typical totalitarian state with disease and war at its core and thus surely would offer some potential for commentary on our modern society (OK maybe not V for Vendetta but perhaps something). Sadly no, nothing like that is to be found and instead the world is one of assumptions and half-baked ideas from other sources. This is a minor problem compared to my main issue with it though. Others have picked holes in the specifics but for me it all falls over because it simply takes itself too seriously. On one hand it is a comic book movie with excessive action and loads of (rather obvious) CGI but on the other we get loads of heavy moments that just clunk their way across the screen.

It could have gone either way and have been better for it. It could have been more fun and a bit less full of itself – embracing the comic book style and making the CGI look part of the "unreal" effect rather than leaving them to stand out by looking a bit cheap, like they couldn't match everything else due to budget constraints. Conversely it could have gone more adult, properly explored the maternal theme and developed the characters beyond the one dimensional but then I guess that would have risked the teen action crowd. However by trying to do neither and both at the same time the end result is a bit messy. I could go on but I'll leave others to tell you about the clunky script, roundly flat acting and disjointed story but suffice to say they are correct – nothing is really done well here.

Even the action, which surprised me. Some scenes offer excitement but mostly they are all overdone and full of too many baddies and an inability to keep the camera still for longer than a second to let us enjoy what we are seeing or feel close to it. The one scene I did think was well done was the conclusion; not brilliant because it still suffered from excess but the darkness and the 1-on-1 (as opposed to 700-on-1) did at least make me get into it a bit. Jovovich has a good body and is not a "bad" actress here but really she does offer little more than the basics. Any vague attempt she does make to find the person in her character is either misjudged or ignored and all we are left with is the sight of her in tight clothes killing people while looking sexy; perfect for the teenage boy market but those days are a decade or so behind me and I just felt bored. Bright is dull while I can only assume that Fichtner hoped for a franchise and took a role that would potentially give him an expansion potential in later films (yeah William, drop me a line and let me know how that's working out for ya). Chinlund at least has the good taste to furiously ham it up; maybe it is because he is a ham or maybe it was a decision but either way at least he has a bit of fun and his character never gets sucked into being dry and serious like the rest of the film (he's still not great though).

Overall, not as bad as some would have you believe but certainly no earthly good either. The approach is mixed and mostly fails to inspire, excite, engage or even interest. I would have liked to see it try to do something in particular – be silly, be clever, be childish, be adult – something. Hell, I might even have liked it if it had been such a shambles that it became fun to mock. As it is though it is just totally mediocre, boring, flat and uninspiring. Even teenage boys deserve better.

Need to add negative option to the voting process

[distewart-1 · 1/10 · 5 March 2006]

Well I have officially wasted 88mins of my life on a movie. I have always been open minded to movies. Some have bad acting, errors... etc. I try to put myself into the mind of a lead character and live the movie, turning my mind off to enjoy what's on the screen. I sat down with my popcorn to enjoy a movie that I could care if it had a plot. I was in a mood to see action. Well...... I can't even say I was impressed with even that. This movie had the entire theatre sitting there with a deer in the headlights expression and we all were thinking WTF???? Those that I did know there said they couldn't leave because, like me, they thought it had to get better... We were wrong. I would love to be vindictive and tell everyone to go see this movie. I wasted my money and time... why should I be alone in that. Truthfully, I can't be that mean to even my most hated enemy. If you are going for any reason... at least Milla looks good in her outfits, and the outfits are cool.

Worst movie I have ever seen.

[Batese · 1/10 · 9 April 2006]

I registered at this site just to tell you how GODAWFUL this movie truly is. About 10 minutes into the movie I started praying for a brain tumor to arrive and kill me. Let me break this down for you.

Plot: There is none really. Violet has some kind of ultra-contagious plague that the government is trying to eliminate. Even though it's so contagious that BREATHING THE SAME AIR can infect you. So half the people run around with gas masks. The lead "bad guy" is so obsessive that he buys his GUNS in sealed plastic bags. Which just makes NO sense when you get to the end of the movie. At one point there is a 10 minute (or less) love interest between Violet and some random vampire. No character development, so don't worry about paying attention. Did I mention that there seem to be virtually NO bad side effects to this "plague"? You become super strong, super fast, and super pretty much everything. There are vague references in the movie about Violet "dying" but this isn't really adequately explained so I'm gonna assume since she never DOES die (unfortunately), that it can't be that hard to avoid. They keep using "holograms" as an excuse to build false suspense...but nobody really cares because the movie is just such a pile of crap that I was just blankly staring at the screen at this point.

Graphics: sub par and over hyped. As an example: For some reason these "vampires" who are being hunted to the brink of extinction buy a belt that has a SUN trapped inside it for fusion power...this somehow lets violet drive her motorcycle sideways across a building while being shot at by a helicopter (something about gravity powers). She kills the two pilots and this is apparently enough to make the helicopter explode. The whole time I was watching this, I was bored. HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN? The graphics are SO cheesy that you simply cannot suspend your disbelief. Parts of it just look like a violent Toy Story. Not that I dislike Toy Story, but the point is, the CGI graphics in it should NOT be combined with live action.

I can't go on...this movie was the worst thing I've ever seen.

it is worse than Plan 9 from outerspace.

For the love of ALL that is holy, do NOT see it.

Not nearly as bad as people complain it is.

[kane_locke · 6/10 · 13 February 2008]

After having been given repeated warnings about how bad this film is, I went ahead and watched a borrowed copy. About thirty minutes into the film I had reached a decision: I was enjoying it. While certainly not Oscar-winning material, most people apparently were expecting some kind of cinematic masterpiece rather than what they got, an over-the-top comic book-like action set piece with a modicum of plot to tie together the action sequences.

The gunkata sequences, closer to Wimmer's original idea of the form, do not approach the stark and yet orgiastic death-art of Equilibrium, but they're fun all the same. The movie is full of neat, if improbable, gadgetry, from gravity manipulators to disposable paper cell phones. Nick Chinlund chews a satisfactory amount of scenery without stuffing himself down the viewer's throat. Milla Jovovich herself manages to use a two-dimensional role to display probably the most range I've ever seen her give outside of "The Messenger", and she was certainly much more attractive in this movie than in any of the others I've ever watched her in. All these things contribute to what amounted to a popcorn bowl of a film: not something you'd eat for every meal, but a nice snack for a change of pace when you don't want something too substantial.

The problem seems to be that most people can't just shut off their brains and enjoy a romp once in a while. Would this film ever seriously contend for Best Anything? No. But it certainly does not deserve the almost universal slagging it has gotten since its release. Ignore what you've heard, don't expect too much, and you might just find yourself being entertained for an hour and a half.

My eyes...... how they bleed for you!

[zeonia · 1/10 · 8 September 2006]

First of all, let me say, you have to see this movie!

"Why do you say that? When everyone is slagging it off." I hear you ask. Because everything you do or see after this movie, will be ray of sunshine in your life! So, let's assume you're out for a picnic, it's a beautiful day, you are eating a sandwich from your picnic basket. Then, all of a sudden a large bird flys over and craps directly in your sandwich. You then proceed to unwittingly eat the sandwich without realizing. No need to worry,…. its not bad as sitting through Ultraviolet. Now, let's assume you're walking down the street and you slip on a dog turd, fall down some stairs and land head first in a bucket of acid some child left on the sidewalk, followed shortly by your body being eaten by radioactive, plague rats. No problem, at least you'll never have to see this god damn move again!

So why is this movie so bad, I really don't know where to start. First off, the CGI is terrible; the superimposition of the motorbike in the chase scene is horrific and could have been rivalled in MS Paint. The dialogue is beyond awful; there are no words in the English language that do justice to the bad acting and terrible dialogue in this movie. And if there are, I certainly can't use them on IMDb.

By far and wide, the worst part of the movie is a scene where Violet sends a hologram to the "enemy base", the hologram pulls up in a car, and is faced down by many rows of (probably CGI) enemies. Some bad dialogue later, the car and hologram are toast – pan to real Violet and the child she is protecting. Child says "There's too may of them, there's just too many"… Then, INSTANTLY, pan to vision-like scene of child and Violet playing in the park… child dies. What the hell??!?!?!?!?!?!??! At this point, I felt my arm moving of it's own free will – yes, it wanted to punch me in the face for watching this god forsaken film!

I like many others here have been compelled to sign up to IMDb just to warn other people of this movie. If you are waiting for the director's cut… you'll be waiting a while I fear, as I'm pretty sure this movie was so bad, it's just not worth taking the risk of releasing another potential failure.

I consider myself to be an easy movie-goer, I don't ask a lot from movies. I've seen movies that have gotten 3-4 on IMDb and thoroughly enjoyed them. But Ultraviolet takes the cake. (It takes it, eats it and then spits it in your face, then laughs at you for paying for the cake!). I always thought Derailed (the Van-Damne one) was the worst film I ever saw (followed closely by AI),.. but yes, we have a new loser! Come on down Ultraviolet, you are the worst movie ever made!

88 god damn minutes of my life, I want them back!

You Need to See the Uncut Version (DVD).

[matikalyere · 8/10 · 1 February 2008]

Having watched the regular release version I was somewhat confused as to what was going on, though I was able to surmise the base elements of the plot, but when I saw the uncut version with the scenes left in, things made a lot more sense.

The plot seems a bit obscure at first; unless you're sharp, you're not going to be able to follow it. That is all I will say about that.

It's true the acting wasn't magnificent but I really don't know what everyone is complaining about. Plenty of action, yes, and Milla Jovovich looks great. I thought it was a pretty good watch myself, and I am in the minority there. I definitely don't think it's a waste of time, though it is a bit dark. It's now in my DVD collection, in fact.

Rent it, watch the uncut version. Though not my favourite movie of all time, I enjoyed it.

Underrated.

[hsabgardner · 7/10 · 12 May 2020]

Look, let's be serious. The movie is flashy and fantastic, buried in cgi and special effects, and the plot is rather obscure and strange. What makes the movie good is that it does go over the top. This movie dazzles.

If Mila catches your eye, this movie may be the finest piece that she did around this time. So beautiful.

The best part was the ending.

[smitty124 · 1/10 · 6 March 2006]

I'm going to go set a camera on record, then throw it into a cement sidewalk. This would result in a film that is 10 times better than Ultraviolet. I honestly cannot recall a worse movie. I would have rather watched care bears with my parents. The film does not seem to contain anything that resembles a storyline. We begin right in a poorly animated action sequence that makes absolutely no sense, then continue watching more poorly animated ridiculous scenes for the next hour and a half. To say the acting was horrible would be an understatement. After hearing the infamous trailer line "Are you Mental?", I am also fairly confident the script writer is a five year old with ADD.

Underrated, Kurt Wimmer teams with Milla.

[amesmonde · 22 April 2010]

The opening few minutes of Kurt Wimmer's Ultraviolet is a rip roaring, pulse pounding set up of action sequences and chases. Then the film calms down for a little breather until the next amazing fight sequence.

Following a holocaust some humans have become Hemophages, a sub-species with enhanced physical abilities. Violet, must protect a nine-year-old boy who has been marked for death by the human government.

In the wake of 2005's disappointing Aeon Flux, underrated Kurt Wimmer director of Equilibrium (2002) writer of The Recruit (2003) and Salt (2010) set about creating an up-to-the-minute Sci-fi.However, after shooting wrapped Kurt left after being pressured to deliver less emotional PG-13 rated film. In turn, Ultraviolet was completely re-edited by the studio and apparently this marred the finished product significantly.

Acting wise, William Fichtner puts in an unusual performance, Sebastien Andrieu and Nick Chinlund both seem unsure what's going on. With an abundance of forgettable bad guys, Milla Jovovich excellently plays Violet who has enhanced speed, incredible stamina and acute intelligence. Her character at first seems very one dimensional as she plays her usual Resident Evil kick-ass self. But even in the short running time her character develops, you're given glimpses into here past, as she bonds with 'Six' played well by Cameron Bright.

There's great effects, stunts and a thumping score. A lot of reviews have criticised the CGI usage, however, it's stylised, hyper-real and sleek. It's not meant to be faithful representation of a real world. Holograms, swords, a new invented language, gun-fighting and martial arts. It's science fiction entertainment, set in the 21st century, nothing more, nothing less.

It's fast, it's fun - Ultraviolet is an pleasing sci-fi action but possibly could have been so much more if Wimmer was allowed to deliver his cut.

Whoever thought this was a good idea needs to have their brain re-evaluated

[DonFishies · 1/10 · 15 December 2006]

I really am speechless in trying to describe how I felt about Ultraviolet.

In some respects, I think I truly wasted ninety-plus minutes of my life watching this movie.

In others, I am just terribly disappointed with Kurt Wimmer, who gave us the excellent cult film Equilibrium just four years ago.

But Ultraviolet, well, Ultraviolet attempts to clone the successful points of any number of science-fiction films that have come before it. Only it fails miserably in all respects. Yes, it could easily be pinned on Sony for tampering with the film and taking out so many vital plot points. But even with what's left, I cannot fathom how this movie could have been all that great to start with.

The film is just an incomprehensible mess. Explaining it here would just waste even more time, but suffice to say, Milla Jovovich is Violet, a member of a mutant race that has practically been wiped off the face of the planet. She is sent to illegally intercept a weapon that is being touted to further destroy the race, and is told not to open it. Being a rebel, she does, and finds a human boy named Six (Cameron Bright). Everyone seems to want him dead, so she takes it upon herself to try and protect him from just about everyone.

Original? Far from it, and this is the problem. The material has been done before, and has been done much better. Everyone involved seem to know it, and they are just seemingly trying to deliver something that does not totally reek of being clichéd unoriginal filth. But that is exactly what this is. Jovovich for one reason or another, is invincible, and just kills everything in sight without batting an eye. And since she can do this, she can save the boy from just about any situation. So at a crucial moment when he needs to be saved, what is the audience to think? That she's going to fail? How are we supposed to feel sympathetic for characters who are so unoriginal that we can tell what is going to happen miles before it actually does?

But therein lies another problem - the film does not make any sense. In their infinite wisdom, the editors took out more than a handful of vital plot points needed to really flesh out the characters and the story. As it is, the characters involved seem to have ongoing relationships that the audience only can grasp mention of, they never know the specifics. They just kind of go place-to-place, and it is assumed that the audience will just forget the fact that there is little to no mention of what anyone is doing, just that Jovovich is kicking ass and taking names almost every five minutes. There is no real cohesive storyline to follow at any point. We just get pieces of what was once Wimmer's script, and the film just kind of assumes that those who truly want to make sense of the movie, will just use their imaginations. Is this a good enough reason to blatantly miss key points needed to fully grasp the later actions and events involving some characters? No, and whoever thought so needs to get their heads examined.

On top of a story with no sensical values, the acting and dialogue is pretty terrible too. The few lines within the film are short and sweet. And they do nearly nothing to move the plot. Some of Jovovich's voice-overs do indeed work, but only sparingly (albeit much better than some of her "classy" one-liners like "Watch me", which she repeats about five times). At least with the voice-overs, we do not get to see any acting. When we actually see her physically speaking, Jovovich is just totally unenthused with everything. She has no excitement in her voice, and she has a total lack of any caring for even attempting to make her desire to protect Six look real. Indeed she is not that great an actress to start, but she is only continuing to perpetuate that notion with her deplorable acting here.

Bright is not all that much better. He has a whole total of three minutes of dialogue in the film (but plenty of screen time), and it is all delivered with the intensity of a gargoyle statue. It is so bland and so wooden that you begin to wonder why they even bothered to cast anyone in this role in the first place. Nick Chunland and William Fichtner are not all that much better, but at least the majority of their acting is delivered with some sort of inclination of attempting to act. Sorry to say, they do not appear all that much in the film.

The visuals for the most part, attempt to save the film from complete annihilation, but only work to a point. Yes, they are vibrant and exhilarating, but they never really pique interest. Some of the costumes and sets are downright ridiculous looking, and only continue to beat the film down into being worse. The special effects are titillating in one respect, but in others, they just look like a bad rip-off of something else. What is worse is the fact that the majority of them look like they are lifted right out of a video game (even down to some sequences of first person shooter). The crazed and bizarre editing helps accomplish this feat, and while it was meant to look stylish, it just ends up looking goofy.

For all its faults, the film does have a few intriguing moments. It has a few moments where it also proves that it could have been good if it had better direction, and a much better editor. If Sony was thinking the action alone would save this movie from being a laughing stock of putrid trash, then they clearly need to rethink their position as a Hollywood studio. And fast.

1/10.

Killing Is Her Specialty

[claudio_carvalho · 5/10 · 16 December 2006]

In a future totalitarian society, there is a war between humans and the group of beings infected in a government experiment called "hemophages", with enhanced strength and abilities. When the warrior Ultraviolet (Milla Jovovich) is assigned to steal a secret weapon capable of destroying the "hemophages", she discloses that it is actually a boy called Six (Cameron Bright) that has been genetically modified. The maternal instinct of Ultraviolet arises and she fights against the tyrant Daxus (Nick Chinlund) and her mates leaded by Nerva (Sebastien Andrieu) trying to find an antidote and the cure of Six.

"Ultraviolet" is a deceptive movie for many reasons. The first one certainly is the awful screenplay, with a bad story, silly dialogs and no development of the characters. The excessive use of CGI gives the sensation that the viewer is watching a video game, alternating beautiful colorful sequences with very poor special effects, like for example, the motorcycle sequence, when Ultraviolet is chased. I like movies based on cartoons, but Ultraviolet was a great deception. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Ultravioleta" ("Ultraviolet")

In a word, Horrible.

[monkeychipsx2 · 1/10 · 25 May 2006]

This is the worst movie i have ever seen. Honestly, did someone shred every other page of the script as a practical joke? I'm not laughing. i'm still out 5 bucks for seeing the matinée... Thankfully, I saw it with a couple of friends who have similar guidelines for calling a movie horrible, and we entertained ourselves by making fun of the discontinuity, bad acting, dialog, "storyline", and "effects" (which somehow water down the experience...)

for example:

Discontinuity: "Places like this don't exist anymore" in reference to a picture of a park. later, the setting is... A PARK!

Bad Acting: i don't even want to comment here... none of the actors are excused.

Dialogue: Violet and the kid were on a first letter basis just minutes after meeting. I felt like I was watching sesame street. (This ridiculous movie brought to you by the Letter V!) "I have an army of 700 men here, what can you do against them?" "I can kill them" O RLY? YA RLY! thanks a lot for that brief insight into the world of verbal retardation. Next, please. "You got hemo blood on me... it is on." couldn't have been worse if he had let out a Darth Vader "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" from the bottom of his lungs. Why did the bad guy have to be stupid too? usually, if the main character has no depth, I root for the bad guy. seems reasonable right? not for this movie. the only conflict during the 90 minutes was which character was less stupidly, stubbornly static, and which one was closer to the capacity for thought I request in characters I like.

Storyline: thats the thing every movie prior to the making of this one has had because if it didn't, it would be just a random collection of actions. and that's exactly what anyone means when using the word storyline in reference to this movie. A random collection of actions. in a nutshell: Violet recovers some kind of weapon that puts all her people at risk. she discovers that it is a human child. she then devotes her life to protecting this child. which is a good plan, apart from the kid being an intolerable little brat, because she takes out 6 or more people at once with no problem. which is OK at the beginning of the movie, but throughout the plot (random collection of actions) she never meets a real challenge in a fight. oh yeah, don't forget a failed attempt at adding a love interest and a sense of maternal responsibility, neither of which make sense in the last 10 minutes of movie, and only robs you of brain cells to accompany the money you paid to see it. Storyline, my ass.

Effects: Oh yes. the "effects". the annoying sky captain style post processing which is applied to about half the shots. the randomly changing hair colors. the paper cell phones. the nose braziers... yes, effects. the only effect they had on me was in my stomach. I almost vomited snow caps on the guy in front of me. I wont try explaining to you how much I hate the effects in the movie. but I warn you not to try and find out for yourself.

Don't see ultraviolet. If you do, the Terrorists win.

Ultraviolet makes movies the likes of, House of the Dead and Mission Impossible 2 seems like Oscar contenders.

[Undertow69 · 1/10 · 6 March 2006]

The idea behind a good Sci-fi movie is making the improbable seems possible. But often this genre is blight by an amalgamation of poor written scripts, weak plots, laughable acting and over the top stunts that turns fantasy into ridicule. And this is precisely the case with Ultraviolet. At first glance the movie appears to be promising. But fifteen minutes into the movie and one quickly realizes that this is just the beginning of an 88 minute roller-coaster ride of boredom. Without given much away, the movie brings nothing new to the table as far as storyline is concerned. The action sequences are far from entertaining and are an insult to the human intelligence. I'll grantee that you'll get more of a trill watching paint dry than watching this cinematic garbage. If you want to loose eight or ten bucks and maintain a shred of dignity, do what other people do and by lottery tickets.

If you liked The Transporters, Underworlds, and Resident Evils, then you won't like Ultraviolet...

[babyloushmoopey · 1/10 · 3 March 2006]

I had high expectations before going in to see Ultraviolet. I liked similar movies (e.g. Transporter, Underworld, and Resident Evil), even though the acting was often lacking and some action scenes were too unbelievable to be real. That being said, I absolutely detested Ultraviolet for all of its shortcomings. Worth mentioning is that many people in the audience left early into the movie (accurately sensing that the rest was going to be just as bad as what they'd already seen). Here are some good things to be said about Ultraviolet: cool special effects, great scenery, nice weapons, and funky costumes. Here are some not-so-good things to be said about the movie: really bad acting, confusing plot, really cheesy moments at the most awkward times, unbelievable action sequences (even more so than Transporter 2), incoherent screen shot sequences, lame one-liners, and (at times) sappy music. At times, I found myself thinking: does the director really think I'm that stupid? Throughout the movie, people keep asking Violet if she was crazy or "mental" for continuing on her violent rampage. Ultimately, I think questions of sanity should be reserved for anyone who goes to see this movie in light of what I and others will no doubt write about it. Trust me on this one: if you find yourself in the theatre watching Ultraviolet, you'll likely be looking at your watch more often than the screen.

Save your money and your time.

Wait for the director's cut!

[metalhead7321 · 7/10 · 8 March 2006]

The film Ultraviolet is a great premise and has some props here and there but it's a near complete failure of a film. WHY? Because of the studio that green light this movie. Information has been exposed that writer/director Kurt Wimmer's vision of the film was cut by the studio by over 30 minutes, 30 minutes that are actually very important to the story, characters and action. So wait for this film to come out on DVD, because the shorten 88 minute verison of the film will totally disappoint everyone. Give this film a chance, when the director's cut comes out, I will Milla Jovovich was very sexy and bad ass in this film, hopefully she will continue to do such films.

Great imagination and visual style, but unjustly compared to bigger movies

[burpingcat · 8/10 · 4 March 2006]

The worst part about Ultraviolet is that it has THREE genres of movies to compete with. People will compare it to the blockbusters of Sci-Fi movies, Martial Arts movies, and Heroine movies. It will have a tough time trying to stand out when people will inevitably compare it to HUGE movies like Crouching Tiger, The Matrix, Kill Bill, Underworld, etc.

Let's remember that Ultraviolet had a relatively small budget, and yet it did quite a bit with it. With all that said, let me say a few words, good and bad ones, on Ultraviolet.

Yes, the story in Ultraviolet is its weakest point. The problem is in the lack of emotional attachment to the characters, the odd choice and delivery of lines (although you can't deny how great the "It is on." line is), and the strange dream-like stuff it goes into at times.

A lot of the themes in this movie are very fleeting, maybe because they've just been done so often, they need no emphasis. There's one particular story element that you might miss ENTIRELY if you didn't pay attention during one shot. That's how little emphasis there is on story in this movie. The plot is also a little hard to follow at times because it jumps around.

It's strange to see so little emphasis on the story when we know from Equilibrium that Kurt Wimmer is very capable of writing a good story. It makes me wonder if the lack of story was intentional or not, but the unfortunate bottom line is that it hurts this movie.

So what saves this movie? Why 8 out of 10? If we were interested in movies only for their story, we wouldn't be interested in movies at all...we would all read books instead.

Yes, a movie is defined as picture and sound. In that case, Ultraviolet is quite an amazingly interesting picture and sound.

Ultraviolet sacrifices story for a very visceral picture and oodles of style. I haven't seen a movie that looks this COOL in a long time. It really reminds me of the type of style that 60's sci-fi movies were going for- very robust in color and costumes, but modernized and expanded for our time. It's certainly a very nice departure from the typical and BORING space station/stainless steel/green look of modern sci-fi.

The action is kick-ass, applause-worthy at times...although I'll admit that I've seen a bit better from similarly-budgeted movies ("Versus" comes to mind). They could've had some more variety to it (like maybe some better/badder foes), but considering who and what they were working with, I think they did a good job.

Another big strength of the movie is the very cool concepts. Color-changing outfits, gravity belts, disposable paper cellphones, crazy ninjas that drop out of planes like giant pinballs, and entire weapon arsenals stored in wrist devices. All of it with designer-quality fashion to it. You can tell where the budget went in this movie. Like I said, it's an older, weirder, more stylish sense of sci-fi that you don't see very often these days. In fact, a lot of this movie can be defined as set-pieces more so than a single flowing experience.

True, their ability to execute some of these ideas (specifically, the motorcycle chase) is limited by their budget. I think it can be overlooked, though. Some rough edges on CG never hurt anybody...anybody that wants to whine about the graphics really doesn't want to appreciate the movie for what it is.

Overall, I enjoyed this movie, more so for its visuals, music, concepts and set-pieces than for its story or characters. It's really quite interesting to look at. There are more moments in this movie that make me think 'awesome!' than in all of The Matrix trilogy. If this movie isn't a success, then I hope it at least inspires the movie that does get this particular formula just right.

Yes! It's Good

[Alphareign · 7/10 · 27 December 2020]

¶Despite what some might say, Ultraviolet is actually pretty decent movie. It's unique and original in one area: In most "vampire fare", vampires are immortal beings, but in Ultraviolet, hemophages (which are for all intents and purposes vampires) are not immortal. Instead, the virus which causes them to become hemophages significantly shortens their lifespan, 12 years infection to death. ¶Milla Jovovich is a gem. Some of her character, including Violet really are heavyweights where badass females are concerned. Violet is so sassy and adorable. Ultraviolet has Milla jovovich, William Fichtner, and Nick Chinlund, all of whom are great actors and their acting prowess is shown very well in the movie. ¶The choice of sets and costumes are superb and flamboyant for lack of a better term. The score is unique and although it has some orchestral elements, it's definitely not a conventional orchestral score. I know nothing of cinematography. That being said, the visuals are outstanding. ¶In Ultraviolet, there is a disease which comes from the far east and frightens many people into wearing masks. I wonder where I have heard that before. :P :D ¶Ultraviolet's plot and story-line are creative, but not necessarily completely, totally, and utterly unique. The fight scenes should be slower and more graphic. That's about it as far as problems I have with the movie

Ultra Violet?

[malbor-1 · 1/10 · 27 July 2006]

Ultra-Unwatchable.

Lots of spoilers.....

Woman carries case into secure facility, apparently morphing and fooling all the sensors to detect such a creature...gets in...uses guns in case to shoot all the guys who have their gun sites on her. OK. Fine. It's a movie.

Then as she escapes, gets 6 guns right at her head. Oh, wait, she manifested a blade and chopped them all up, but they are frozen in the pose. OK, well, getting silly.

More folks start shooting at her, she manifests a gun and shoots back. OK, at this point, why isn't she manifesting a time machine and killing these "cops's" parents. Why carry a case into the facility if she can just manifest them from the thin air?

OK, here come the Helicopters with gatlin guns that apparently don't know how to lead someone on a motorcycle. Oh, but wait, she's on the SIDE of the building, she's got some kind of GRAV alteration machine. Forget that a horizontal bike offers a bigger target, the director apparently forgot that if you can manipulate gravity, who gives a damn about a building. Why isn't she's doing a Buck Rogers and flying off to the moon. Oh wait, here comes the end of the building, oh no! She's gonna fly off! No, she'll just drive on a flat surface then launch upward, into the gatlin gun fire, fly through the helicopter and kill the shooters.

OK. I get it. She's invincible, or at least as the plot requires. I mean, why bother with any of the "science" explanations "She must have a grav machine" or "they must use some N-space tech" or some other nonsense mumbo-jumbo.

Then she's got a boy to protect or something or other. She's all worried that they won't make it or some such. The acting was so stupid, who knew. At any rate, why does someone who can make any weapon on demand, dodge 1000 rounds a minute and alter gravity worried about "them". Ugh.

Dumbest movie ever. DO NOT watch this dreck.

Just plain annoying.

[boydeow · 1/10 · 25 July 2006]

There is no need to go into detail about how truly bad this "film" is, as you can find that in most of the other comments.

What I'm curious to find out is did anyone else find that kid EXTREMELY ANNOYING?? Yes, everything else in the film was annoying: nonsensical plot, bad acting, bad SFX, etc.. However, what annoyed me most was that kid with the stupid look on his face all the time! I don't know whether it was his bad acting, the stupid role he had, or just his naturally annoying looks.

Am I the only one to think this? Is it unfair to think this? Has anyone else seen him in another film? Was he just as annoying? Although I'd like to, I haven't seen X-Men: The Last Stand yet, but I see that he's in it, and it has kind of put me off...

Oh, yes - there should be a negative scoring system available! 1/10 implies that there was AT LEAST something you liked about the film. What if there wasn't?